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Quarry Bees

@quarrybees.bsky.social
212 followers 1K following 333 posts

Gwenyn Maes Chwarel/The Quarry Field Bees 🐝 Carmarthenshire, Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. Evidence based. Beekeeping adventures/mis-adventures. Bee science, news, myth & folklore (depending on mood). Local honey available most of the year. www.quarrybees.co.uk

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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Our agriculture in Wales is designed with sheep in mind and, perhaps, only 6% to 10% of that verdant landscape produces food for bees and other pollinators. From an insects perspective, a dessert can just as easily be made of sand, concrete or even grass? www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Bee buffets’: the pollinator pathways turning drab alleys into insect havens
Corridors of nectar-rich plants encourage pollination and brighten up city streets at the same time
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
I officially hate sheep... 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Microscopy for beekeepers 🐝. Me being very intent, preparing euthanised bees for dissection.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
Thanks ti the National Bee Unit, yesterday I saw examples of both American and European Fowlbrood infeccted comb. One seen, and smelt, hard to forget.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
Microscope day 🐝. The world of the bee is the world of the small. Today was spent, care of Swansea Beekeeping Association, learning to identify pollen traces and to dissect dead bees for educational as well as diagnostic purposes.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Three auick lessons from the great bee die off #savethebees 🐝. 1) It's just North America. 2) The beekeepers messed up. (Not Jason Statham) 3) Cutting back on public funded monitoring makes things worse. Did I miss anything? www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Scientists identify culprit behind biggest-ever U.S. honey bee die-off
USDA research points to viruses spread by pesticide-resistant mites, indicating a worrying trend
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Swarm to re-home in four stages. First bees af 3:00, re-homed at twilight.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Most UK beehives have some form of open mesh floor that allows hive detritus to fall through (and be collected). Examining the mess will often identify the presence of dead varroa and lead to more thorough investigation and action.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
Sometimes it's wise to leave your bees alone..🐝 Inside this box is, hopefully, a newly introduced Queen Bee. She needs time to be fully accepted. Pollen on the legs of this bee may indicate that she's started laying eggs. Fingers crossed 🤞.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Bees are known a busy bees for a reason 🐝. Sometimes I video bees and slow things right down. It's amazing how much more you can see.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Swarm in a shed 🐝 National Botanic Garden of Wales yesterday. The beekeepers were confronted with large quantities of bees in the equipment shed. Luckily, the Queen bee's own entry had been stalled by a wire grill and she was easily relocated outside. The other bees soon followed her scent.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Insect Week 🐝. The Royal Entomogical Society invites you to 'stand tall for the small'. If you're a fan of all things creepy crawly, this may interest you? Sign the pledge to discover, observe and protect. 🦋 www.royensoc.co.uk/insectweek/
royensoc.co.uk
Insect Week - Royal Entomological Society
Help Insects Thrive and Stand Tall for the Small Insect Week returns from 23–29 June 2025, celebrating the fascinating world of insects and the vital role they play in keeping ecosystems healthy. Led ...
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
So that's swarm #6 of bee fishing, sorry swarm season. It's a good size. I'm not throwing it back.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
This wasn't supposed to happen 🐝. Wrapped elasterplast around the Queen Cage exit so that she could stay warm, fed and isolated until I was ready. The bees, bless them, ripped off the tape and let her out early. Very smug with themselves they are too.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
It should be #savethebugs of course, #savethebees is short on context and nuance. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them
From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
I think this is our 5th swarm now.. I understand why local papers build up the drama, but stand still, listen and watch, they're truly amazing. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Things near the bees 🐝. Last week I set up a camera on a swarm trap that I was optimistic would entice a swarm of honeybees. I was unsure as to whether tiny bees would set off the sensors, I shouldn't have worried. I should, however, have remembered to fit a memory card first. Duh..
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Today was tte first day in her new hive for a purchased Buckfast line Queen Bee. As part of her managed introduction she'll stay safe in her isolation cage for a few days longer. But, signs are that they seem to like her.. 🤞
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
When you gain a swarm of bees, the first instinct is to peer between the frames to gauge how strong it is. Four or five frames of bees, like here, has great potential. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Well who doesn't like free bees?
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Moving in is our second swarm 'caught' by a scented 'trap' in exactly the same position, three weeks apart. Welcome girls. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
There were dozens of these beautiful insects on display today. My best identification, is that they are Five Spotted Burnett. This is indeed a species common in Wales. However, the time to see them in flight is between July and August. Perhaps they're as confused by our changing weather as we are?
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
I actually wasn't taking a selfie, just pressed the wrong button. Quite like it in B&W though.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Unloading 🐝 Ireland is the 'emerald isle' , but Wales must be a close second, being similarly irrigated by the Irish Sea. It has rained with insulting persistence for a week, but as soon as it stopped, I was out, a trailer full of bee boxes and a good excuse over my tardy inspection schedule.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Waiting for a close up.. 🐝 Click to see wide view. A disadvantage of Swarm Traps is they rarely 'catch' when you're around and you miss the fun. Something new for this year is setting up trail cams on likely spots in the hope of catching the arrival of a swarm. The most suitable emoji here is 🤞...
Waiting for a close up.. 🐝 A disadvantage of Swarm Traps is they rarely 'catch' when you're around and you miss the fun. Something new for this year is setting up trail cams on likely spots in the hope of catching the arrival of a swarm. The most suitable emoji here is 🤞...
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Some bees yesterday...
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Honeybee, with full pollen baskets, foraging on St John's Wort. Myndd Mawr, 4th June.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Not all pollinators buzz 🐝. A keen imbiber of nectar and a consequently superb pollinator, living-up to its name, is the Thick Thighed Beetle. Pictured in Myndd Mawr Country Park, 4th June.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Too busy to chase swarms of bees, I put out scented Swarm or Bait Traps to offer an enticing option for new colonies. No bees to be seen, now, but this inventive but doomed swarm was clearly thinking 'outside of the box'?
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
What nodody on Social Media tells you about bees 🐝 A honeybee's stinger is actually 2mm long. When suitably motivated, they can sting right through a 1mm thick traditional cotton beesuit!! Today, was a day I needed to open a very grumpy hive. What was I wearing?
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
As planned, two small neighbour beehives have today been combined to build a stronger colony (with better prospects). This means that the 'new' entrance hole moved 20cm into the middle space. To help out, colleagues raise their rear-ends, expose scent glands and 'fan' a chemical trail into the air.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Once the infuriatingly persistent rain passed over today, it was time to move a huge swarm of honeybees to become the very first tenants of our latest apiary. They were very happy to be released, tumbling out of the entrance and spiralling into an, as yet, confusing sky. They'll love it there. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Beekeeping in West Wales is heavily dependent upon the humble bramble, a near ubiquitous plant with a tendency to hybridisation and a consequentially long flowering season. In many places locally, individual bushes are already in flower. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Grumpy were the bees seen today 🐝. Not ours, I hasten to add, but those of a friend who wanted a second opinion. Well, the printable part of that opinion is that they certainly are the grumpiest of grumpy bees.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
media.tenor.com
a red heart with the words world bee day written on it
ALT: a red heart with the words world bee day written on it
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Honeybee on Cotoneaster, Carmarthen, 18th May.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Why doesn't Bluesky 🦋 have an edit option. I never see the stupid thing that autocorrect did until the next day.. 🙄
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
European Hornet, with Honeybee prey, for scale.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
European Hornet predating honeybees, Bancyfelin, Carmarthenshire, 18th May. Couldn't resist adding the music. At 2.5 cm, this hornet is a masterful predictor,and seen from the bee's POV, quite terrifying!
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Bees on a hot tin roof.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
These are not 'huge' beehives, but strong colonies undergoing a procedure called a Demaree Split 🐝. The idea is to convince the hive that it has already swarmed, by moving most of the brood to the very top, above the honey supers. Hygienically, this allows clean comb to be drawn at the bottom too.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Sometimes beehives get a new Queen without swarming. It's called supercedure and can even result in two egg layers in the same hive, mother and daughter, for a short time. Ten days ago I spotted a likely sign, today there were new eggs seemingly everwhere. Happy Beekeeper. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Note to self: Beesuits do not confuse roosters and fail as personal protective equipment. I'll see you again Ken the cockrel... 🐓
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Hot...
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Note to self. Always check the underside of the nucleus hive before putting it in your vehicle. Wondered where they were coming from 😊. Duh.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
More Swarm Traps out today, in out of the way places. The scent of old wax and lemongrass will hopefully draw attention over coming days...
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Why put an empty beehive in a tree? In the hope of getting a full beehive when swarm season starts. Just some old wax for scent, and maybe some lemongrass as a lure. I do love bee fishing. 🐝
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Still over a month of Spring left, but the bees are already bringing in large quantities of nectar. Such a change from last year's washout.
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
The invasive varroa mite, that arrived here from Asia in the 90's, can kill honeybees if allowed to take hold. Treatment is viable; but helping the bees adapt, seems prudent. An open floor and correx sheet to collect detritus under gives the Beekeeper a visual clue on nasty varroa numbers (ringed).
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Quarry Bees @quarrybees.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Queen wasp picked the wrong box to crawl into...
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